A bipartisan duo in the the U.S. House is proposing legislation to ban the Chinese artificial intelligence app DeepSeek from federal devices, similar to the policy already in place for the popular social media platform TikTok.

Reps. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., and Darin LaHood, R-Ill., on Thursday introduced the “No DeepSeek on Government Devices Act,” which would ban federal employees from using the Chinese AI app on government-owned electronics. They cited the Chinese government’s ability to use the app for surveillance and misinformation as reasons to keep it away from federal networks.

“The Chinese Communist Party has made it abundantly clear that it will exploit any tool at its disposal to undermine our national security, spew harmful disinformation, and collect data on Americans,” Gottheimer said in a statement. “We simply can’t risk the CCP infiltrating the devices of our government officials and jeopardizing our national security.”

The proposal comes after the Chinese software company in December published an AI model that performed at a competitive level with models developed by American firms like OpenAI, Meta, Alphabet and others. DeepSeek purported to develop the model at a fraction of the cost of its American counterparts. A January research paper about DeepSeek’s capabilities raised alarm bells and prompted debates among policymakers and leading Silicon Valley financiers and technologists.

Trump fires FEC chair, but she’s not leaving

The chairwoman of the Federal Election Commission posted a letter Thursday from President Donald Trump informing her that she’d been fired. But she’s refusing to leave.

“Received a letter from POTUS today purporting to remove me as Commissioner & Chair,” Ellen Weintraub, a frequent critic of Trump, wrote on the social media network X. “There’s a legal way to replace FEC commissioners — this isn’t it,” she added.

Weintraub was appointed to a six-year term in 2002. Under federal law, she’s allowed to remain a commissioner past the expiration of her term until a replacement is prepared to join the commission, which oversees compliance with federal election laws.

She did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday night. The White House also did not respond to a request for comment.

A replacement is nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, and Weintraub said that the president did not have the power to force her off the commission before that. Trump did not name a successor to Weintraub in his letter, and it would take weeks at least for his choice for commissioner to be approved by the Senate.

Sweden school shooter connected to campus

The shooter who earlier this week killed 11 people in Sweden’s worst mass shooting was connected to the adult education center where he opened fire with at least one rifle-like weapon, law enforcement officials said Thursday.

Authorities said the gunman, who has not yet been officially identified, may have attended school there before Tuesday’s violence on the school campus west of Stockholm. The shooter was later found dead with three guns, 10 empty magazines and a large amount of unused ammunition next to his body, officials told a news conference.

It was not clear how he died but officials said officers did not return his gunfire.

The school, Campus Risbergska, offers primary and secondary educational classes for adults age 20 and older, Swedish-language classes for immigrants, vocational training, and programs for people with intellectual disabilities. It is on the outskirts of Orebro, 125 miles from Stockholm.

Investigators had not uncovered a definitive motive behind the bloodshed by Thursday. Police said there were no warnings beforehand, and they believe the perpetrator acted alone. Authorities said there were no connections to terrorism at this point. The shooter has not been identified.

U.S. service member killed in plane crash

One U.S. service member and three defense contractors were killed Thursday when a plane contracted by the U.S. military crashed in a rice field in the southern Philippines, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said.

The aircraft was conducting a routine mission “providing intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance support at the request of our Philippine allies,” the command said in a statement. It said the cause of the crash was under investigation.

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines also confirmed the crash of a light plane in Maguindanao del Sur province. It did not provide other details.

The bodies of the four people were retrieved from the wreckage.

Utah bill limits public sector union power

Labor unions that serve teachers, firefighters, police and other public employees in Utah will no longer be able to negotiate on behalf of their workers under a bill that received final legislative approval Thursday.

The Republican policy banning collective bargaining for all public sector professions passed the Senate in a 16-13 vote after its sponsors abandoned a proposed compromise that would have removed the outright ban. After days of negotiations, some unions still disapproved, leading lawmakers to move forward with the more restrictive original version that had already passed the House.

India opposition protests U.S. arrivals

India’s Parliament was disrupted Thursday as opposition lawmakers protested the alleged mistreatment of 104 Indian immigrants deported by the United States.

A U.S. military plane carrying Indian migrants arrived Wednesday in a northern Indian city, the first such flight to the country as part of a crackdown ordered by President Donald Trump’s administration.

Renuka Chowdhury, a lawmaker in the Congress party, said the deportees were “handcuffed, had their legs chained and even struggled to use the washroom.” Her colleague, Gaurav Gogoi, called it “degrading.”

Parliament adjourned as the opposition chanted slogans and demanded a discussion about flights.

— From news services